This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Senior Mountie involved in the Robert Dziekanski case discharged

The senior Mountie involved in the Robert Dziekanski case who was later convicted in a deadly motorcycle crash has been discharged from the RCMP.

RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson, seen in this file photo from March 2009, has been discharged from the force. (DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)

By Tamsyn Burgmann The Canadian Press

Fri., July 20, 2012

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.—RCMP Cpl. Benjamin (Monty) Robinson, whose involvement in the Robert Dziekanski case and an unrelated conviction in a fatal accident made him an example of the bad apples the Mounties have been unable to fire, has voluntarily left the force.

Robinson’s discharge papers were signed Friday, the same day the disgraced officer was in a B.C. court for sentencing for obstructing justice following a fatal crash in 2008, said Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens.

“This morning, I received Mr. Robinson’s RCMP discharge documents and I signed them,” Callens, the force’s top commander in B.C., said in a statement.

“While I have been clear that I was seeking his involuntary dismissal, the opportunity to discharge him from the organization this morning was one which eliminated further delays, costs and uncertainty.”

Robinson’s discharge means he will no longer face internal discipline within the force, including an RCMP code-of-conduct investigation, but he faces legal troubles that could continue for some time.

Article Continued Below

He was convicted earlier this year of obstruction of justice after his vehicle struck and killed 21-year-old motorcyclist Orion Hutchinson in Delta, south of Vancouver, in October 2008.

Robinson told his trial that immediately after the crash, he went home and drank two shots of vodka to “calm his nerves.” A judge concluded Robinson was using his RCMP training in an attempt to fend off accusations of impaired driving.

At his sentencing hearing in a New Westminster court, the Crown asked for a sentence of between three and nine months in jail. Robinson’s lawyer asked for a conditional sentence of three to six months.

“This was not simply an attempt to obstruct justice,” Crown lawyer Kris Pechet told the court. “It was a successful attempt that effectively misled the officers conducting the investigation of Mr. Robinson, as he knew it would.”

Robinson and three other Mounties are also facing perjury charges in connection with their testimony at the public inquiry into the Robert Dziekanski case.

Robinson was the senior officer on duty during the Polish immigrant’s fatal confrontation with the RCMP at Vancouver’s airport in October 2007.

Dziekanski was stunned repeatedly with a Taser after he picked up a stapler, and Robinson testified at the inquiry that he ordered one of his officers to use the stun gun because he believed Dziekanski posed a threat.

He has pleaded not guilty to the perjury charge and a trial is currently set for April 2013.

Callens, the B.C. deputy commissioner, has used Robinson’s case to argue for changes to the federal laws that govern the force, which he has complained make it far too difficult to fire officers who behave badly.

Callens has been taking steps to force Robinson out of the force, including announcing this past May that the officer had been suspended without pay. He has said he attempted years earlier to have Robinson suspended from the force, but he said those efforts were rejected by RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

“I remain committed to exercising my full authority, as the commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, to address matters of employee conduct in the most efficient manner possible,” Callens said in Friday’s statement.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has echoed Callens’ concerns about the RCMP Act, and last month Ottawa announced changes to the law that would give the commissioner greater power to discipline or fire officers.

Concerns about RCMP discipline and accountability have been underscored by several controversies in recent years, most recently allegations of sexual assault and harassment by female Mounties, as well as complaints about abusive behaviour and intimidation by male members of the force.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com